Strong ridge to develop over the Northwest, sunny skies and warm temps forecast

Leftover moisture and cold air aloft will be enough for scattered showers and isolated t-storms throughout the Pacific Northwest on Tuesday. These storms will be more widespread along and west of the Cascades and some may produce small hail and/or graupel. The Columbia Gorge, Hermiston, and the Tri-Cities will be breezy Tuesday into Wednesday as […]

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El Niño to collapse by summer, La Niña forecast fall and winter 2024-25

Strong El Niño conditions were observed over the winter of 2023-24, leading to long lasting periods of split flow in the jet stream aimed at Western North America. This is a typical El Niño pattern, where the northern split persistently aims storms at southeast Alaska and the southern branch aims at California. Despite this, Oregon […]

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Pacific Northwest snowpack improves at the start of March after week of snow

A prolonged pattern of upper level troughing and repeated regional storm systems have added quite a bit of snow to mountains of the Pacific Northwest over the past week. As of the end of the day on March 4, the snow-water equivalent (SWE) value for the Northwest was 88% of the median for this time […]

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Flow turning NW’ly for Pacific Northwest bringing cooler temps & mountain snow

Seasonally warm temperatures being observed in the Pacific Northwest Friday and Saturday will draw to a close on Sunday when an upper level trough is forecast to turn the upper level wind pattern more northwesterly over the region. As a result, cooler air sourced from the Gulf of Alaska will come in for a return […]

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Low to bring atmospheric river and mix of other hazards to California through Tuesday

A low pressure system moving toward California is forecast to bring a broad swath of weather hazards to the region through Tuesday. Most notably, the path of the low as it moves toward San Francisco and then north up the West Coast will result in the cold front boundary and associated moisture plume being aimed […]

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Flood watch for Portland metro as Pineapple Express takes aim

A prolonged period of wet weather has begun in the Pacific Northwest to kick off meteorological winter. For most, rain started Thursday and the east wind coming through the Columbia Gorge was cold enough to allow slushy snowflakes to briefly mix in with the rain in parts of Northeast Portland. Additional rainmakers are forecast to […]

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Cool and wet weather returning to the Northwest this weekend

Ridging over the Pacific Northwest on Wednesday along with a strong low in the Gulf of Alaska are driving mostly sunny and seasonably warm conditions in the Portland area. Meanwhile to the north, a Pineapple Express has been aiming at Vancouver Island, producing up to 200 mm (8 inches) of rain. This Pineapple Express is […]

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Some clouds Wed afternoon with heat wave on tap this weekend

Tri-Cities weather May 10, 2023 Starting the day with just a few clouds moving about the Columbia Basin. A weak trough is forecast to pass overhead so that with daytime heating, cumulus development is likely starting midday for partly cloudy skies this afternoon. Scattered thunderstorms in the mountains will add some high clouds to the […]

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Warm temperatures, strong t-storms create flood risk in Inland Northwest

Warm temperatures in the Inland Northwest this week have accelerated snowmelt. Broadly speaking, the snowpack in the Columbia River watershed remains healthy though it has dropped rapidly relative to climatological norms the last few days. Rapid melt periods are common during Spring and early Summer and the rate is likely to decrease into the weekend […]

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Excessive heat warning for weekend events including Water Follies and Watershed

The heat wave impacting the Pacific Northwest is forecast to continue into the weekend as a ridge of high pressure sits over the Western United States and Canada. The National Weather Service offices in both Pendleton and Spokane have extended their excessive heat warnings for their portions of the Columbia Basin to last until 23:00 Sunday. […]

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